He Who Would the Sword of Heaven Wield (Stratford, pt 2)

I have committed extravagance. I bought a purse on Monday because the one I brought - the only reasonable purchase in this story, one from a yard sale - wasn't as good as I thought it would be. So I bought a better one, and it is a better one.

But it's not as nice as the one I saw in Art in the Park. By the guy who made the (smaller) purse I've carried at work since I bought it last year. The purse that matches the tote that I bought a couple of years ago.

I don't need two purses. I am trying to cut costs down.

Y'all *know* the end of this story already.

Big discussion about MEASURE FOR MEASURE at the breakfast table this morning; the other folks staying here didn't like it. I did. Not the most incandescent production Stratford has ever put on, but a competent, if not exceptional, production of the play. I liked Thom Marriott as the Duke - nice character work there, between his Duke and his Friar - and it was interesting to see Jonathan Goad none the worse for having been burned alive three hours earlier reincarnated as the sort of upright prick who'd just lynched him.

This was a modern urban production which started in a raid at an S&M dance club and ends inconclusively - ( cut for those who haven't seen it yet )

I saw the whole thing through sterio-opticon vision though; at the same time I was watching it, I was thinking how great it would be to have a modern production cast as the sort of socio-religious tension going on in the States right now between dominionists, moderates, and progressives.

Next up is AS YOU LIKE IT in two and a half hours, in the Festival Theater just steps away from here. It's been getting great word of mouth, and I've already picked up the CD, on the basis that I will never see it again if I didn't. (The music is all by Barenaked Ladies. Any fans out there? The CD's about $16 US, hit me up in comments.) I may come back here to comment while the impressions are fresh, unless the sunshine by the river is too irresistable.

Along with the debate about the merits of Measure this morning at the breakfast table was an early, undercover announcement of next year's lineup, which is to be announced with great fanfare next week. ( Only four must-see plays for me. )

With a Hey and a Ho and a Nonny Nonny No (Stratford, pt 3)

Who did Graham Abbey piss off? For several years he's been the headliner, and this year he's in two small roles and is an understudy. An important understudy, but still!

I ask because he was Jaques in As You Like It - a brilliant Jaques, but an oddly small role. Although Bill Needles and Brian Tree also had small-but-important roles. I dunno.

I do know that the play rocked!

Unlike the cold and clinical version of 2000 (in which Juan Cherion's Jaques and whoever's Touchstones were the only watchable parts), this one was warm and silly. Set in the Summer of Love, the previous Duke and his men hadn't been banished so much as they had tuned in, turned on, and dropped out to sing a lot of Barenaked Ladies music and get in touch with their inner selves, maaaaaaaan!

Some interesting casting & directorial choices. Sara Topham made a fantastic Rosalind; young, impetuous, and something of a drama queen. You just knew that her diary was full of underlinings and exclamation points in sets. Dion Johnstone (Orlando) was the only black guy in the cast, which added an unspoken suggestion of bastardy to his brother's dislike for him. And Jaques' costume and cane marked him as a crippled Vietnam veteran, which not only explained his sarcasm and cynicism among the castaways, but gave Graham a chance to add serious undertones to the "Soldier, bearded like the 'pard" verse of the 7 Ages speech.

All wonderful stuff. They weren't shying from the double-entendres in the dialog either; half of them were acted out so people wouldn't miss them. (There's a book in the stores here, Searching for Sex in Shakespeare. You have to be pretty blind to need to search for it, since Shakespeare served it up on a platter for the groundlings.)

The woman who runs my B&B says that the best thing is that when the school groups come through the kids are so mesmerized that they shush each other, rather than needing to be shushed by the ushers. Certainly the Festival was... almost... full. Even with their new rush ticket program - hey kids, Strat now sells rush tickets - there were some empty seats. But very, very few ones.

Another great play - and a production that well wipes away the memory of the 2000 fiasco.

On another note, I managed to space Meet the Festival this morning. I would have liked to see Johnathan Goad speak, too. At least I didn't carelessly miss the one with Scott (that's next week, when I'm gone) or I would have been crushed.

Speaking of whom, in a couple of moments I have to scoot to the Patterson for Karamozov Brothers. It's probably my last chance to talk to him after a play I've seen, but odds are good I'll let it pass. I'd like to say "hi" to him, but for some reason I don't like waiting at the stage doors to the Patterson or the Avon. The Festival gives enough space that you can hang back and call while still giving 'em room to nod and run if they don't want to talk, and the Studio has only the one exit so you're not so obviously lying in wait for an actor. Nor do I have the energy to make the usual bribe of a beer after work.

So if anyone does get to have a few words with him, or did (y'all know who you are!), drop me a line, eh?

ACK! Late to Patterson!